Quebec passes law to stop student protests

Demonstrations in Quebec’s long-running tuition protest again turned violent Friday, as marchers hurled Molotov cocktails during a show of defiance against controversial new legislation designed to end the standoff.

Police said that an incendiary device was hurled in Montreal at a busy downtown intersection, and The Canadian Press reported that at least two Molotov cocktails were thrown.

“Criminal acts were committed,” the police said in its Twitter feed. “(The protest) has been declared illegal. We asked people to disperse immediately.”

Earlier, the protest had begun peacefully as demonstrators marched through Montreal, hours after members of the national assembly voted to implement an emergency law designed to quash student protests that have been raging for three months.

The law ends the current academic year at schools affected by the strikes, imposes fines for anyone who prevents an individual from entering a school and restricts the scope and length of protests. The law, which passed by a vote of 68 to 48, will expire after one year.